Counting Stars (Blaise Zabini X Hestia Carrow)
by CassandraPaige394
Summary: "An unexpected meeting atop the astronomy tower causes the quiet Carrow to open up for once." Blaise X Hestia, One-Shot. Because I feel like Blaise and the Carrow twins were so under-represented. My first ever story! ((Mandatory Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, etc.))


_((A/N: For the purposes of this story, Blaise and Hestia are both in the same year as the Golden Trio, and are repeating their seventh year at Hogwarts, following the Battle of Hogwarts in May 1998.))_

* * *

**_December, 1998_**

Sometimes I feel like nobody really knows us. Like we're just two identical faces in the halls; we ignore the rest of the world, and they're just as happy to likewise pretend we don't exist. That's how things have always seemed to be, anyways. Like it's just Flora and I. Flora and Hestia Carrow.

We don't have many friends. We're not involved in any of the clubs, besides the "Slug Club" previously, but Flo and I prefer to not mention _that_ humiliating debacle. We don't play Quidditch. We spend our extracurricular activities in the very back of the classroom, being as quiet as non-magically possible. Flo and I don't doubt that most students from other houses are generally unaware of our presence.

I wish I could say that we're close with members of our own house, but even other Slytherins don't pay us much mind. It wouldn't hurt so much if they could at least tell us apart, instead of referring to us as "you two" or "the twins" on the scarce occasion we ever socialize with seems that the battle didn't change any of that.

There is one person, though, who's always been able to tell us apart... I'm not even sure how it's possible, but he does it. He's rather snide and sarcastic to the others, but not to us. I don't know why that is. _Bloody hell_, I don't even know why I'm _writing_ tonight. I hardly _ever_ write – just ask Flora; my diary usually remains untouched, unlike hers (which is probably nearing its final pages). I suppose it's because of something that happened a few days ago, that I'm still thinking about him...

* * *

It was before dawn on Saturday, the last day before we hopped back on the Hogwarts Express for Christmas vacation. I was at the Astronomy tower – a popular place to get lost in your thoughts at dark – just sitting cross-legged on the cold stone with a woolen blanket draped over my knees. (I always go up there between 2 and 3 in the morning, when nobody's ever there.)

It seemed to be a nice night for stargazing; despite the bitter chill in the wind, there wasn't a single cloud in the indigo sky. I don't remember what I'd been thinking about, probably because I wasn't thinking of anything. The tower has a way of clearing your head of everything, until it's just you and the stars.

"Nice night, isn't it?" I heard a soft, deep voice from behind me. I turned my head slightly to glimpse a very tall, dark-skinned figure. He didn't meet my gaze; he just looked up at the stars, so I turned my head forwards once more and did the same. His shoes tapped sharply, slowly, on the stones as he eventually came to stand right beside where I sat. Without a word, he sat down next to me, his folded arms coming to a rest on his knees. We sat like that for a few moments, until he smirked, "What in Merlin's name are you even doing out here at this hour?"

I could tell that he was trying to sound as arrogant and patronizing as he usually was, but his voice still had an underlying note of gentleness that he couldn't keep off. I rolled my eyes and tried to subdue the smile that was curling upon my lips. _We've known each-other for almost our entire lives,Blaise,_ my mind whispered. _You can't fool me. _

I didn't say anything to him. I couldn't have if I'd tried; my mouth and my brain seemed to refuse to work properly. Instinct told me to scoot further away, uncomfortable with the closeness of our bodies side-by-side, but I was frozen in place. And for some reason, my eyes decided to wander around until they were snatched by his. Those dark brown eyes that were so familiar to me. My mind wondered how I could tell that they were brown in such little light; then I realized just how close we were.

I looked down and played with the hem of my blanket, praying that he couldn't see the tinge of pink that was sure to be on my cheeks. Some sixth sense told me that he was smiling. I could hear a soft chuckle rumble up from his chest.

"What?" I snapped, a bit more harshly than I wanted to. Blaise's face fell, and I immediately wanted to shoot a cruciatus curse at myself. _I just __**had**__ to be cold and rude, hadn't I?_

My gaze was once again locked with his, and I didn't look away this time. I couldn't.

"Tia," he mumbled, using the nickname that he'd given me so long ago. It felt like it had been years since he last called me that, when it had only been months. The last time had been before the battle... "It's okay, Tia," he whispered.

_It's okay? How on Earth could things be okay? After all that's happened..._

I vividly remembered just barely dodging a killing curse at the Battle of Hogwarts... My uncle, Amycus... He had never liked me. I was too nice for him. And I always hated him.

_He almost killed me... I almost died. _I could feel tears forming at the inner corners of my eyes, and blinked them away.

"I almost died, Blaise." My voice was hardly a whisper. "You... _we_... could've died!" I closed my eyes tightly and bit down on my lower lip. I was shaking... I was cold. I was scared.

"I know, Tia," he murmured, wrapping his arms around me. I buried my face in his chest, like I had always done when we were little and I was afraid. Flora had laughed at my fearfulness back then. "I know."

I cried. I let the let the tears fall, and his arms tightened around me. I sobbed into his shirt like the pathetic little girl that I always was. _That I still am._ I had never cried in front of anyone before, except for Flora. I was too old to cry now, too strong. So why was I crying now? I didn't know. I didn't care. And I couldn't stop, even if I had tried.

I don't know how long I cried for, but my throat hurt and my eyes stung. Blaise didn't say anything. I wished he would; His silence irked me. "Why are you so quiet?" I muttered as I sat upright, wiping my face on my sleeve. I re-situated the blanket over my legs and combed my fingers through my hair, which was sure to be a mess.

A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Because I think actions speak louder than words."

_What was that supposed to mean?_ I rolled my eyes. _Mysterious as always, he was_. "Care to explain?" I asked. My voice sounded coarse and tired; I wasn't in the mood for games. Blaise smiled. A real, genuine smile that I hadn't seen in a very long time. A smile that made my heart flutter and my breath catch in my throat. "Gladly," he said.

He kissed me. A warm, soft, gentle, tentative, feather-light kiss. One like he had kissed me once before, back when we were little. His mother had taken him over to visit, and we were playing hide-and-seek. Flora was "it," so we'd hid together. And that's when he kissed me.

When Blaise kissed me now, I wanted to feel exactly as I did then: warm and light and giddy. And I did, for a moment. But the night air was cold, and the Astronomy tower still had a chunk of stone missing, and the sense of loss still blanketed Hogwarts.

I thought of Flora, and how I was so lucky for her to still be alive. Then I remembered something she had told me, as I lay awake in bed, hours before beginning my trek to the tower.

_"I know how much you two still care about each-other. I know you still think about him, and that you wish you didn't. But your feelings aren't going to change! We can't shut the world out forever, you know."_

I remembered. So I kissed him back.

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_((A/N: Thank you for reading, hope you liked, and please tell me if you think I should make this a two-shot and add a sequel. Again, thank you, love you, bye!))_


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